COEUR d'ALENE - All Jim Hail can do is shake his head.

Well, and report the crime to police and paint over the damage so the wall looked brand new.

But all Hail could really do when he learned that the mural on the side of the Hagadone Directories building dedicated to the memory of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks had been spray painted with graffiti - for a third time, one week before the tragedy's 10th anniversary - was shake his head in disgust.

"Broke my heart," said Hail, president and co-owner of Hagadone Directories Inc., when he saw the damage on Sept. 2.

The tag showed an abstract, cartoon face painted next to where the mural says 'God Bless America.' It also had '181Sreez' spray painted across an American Flag.

The mural by Jeff Connaway, of Silver Creek Signs, was painted on the wall shortly after the attacks, after Hail and his staff decided something must be done to show support.

"They were really moved by the 9/11 tragedy, and this was a way to pay tribute," he said of the in-house decision on the "substantial investment" to decorate the building on 1st Street and Indiana Avenue.

But one week before the anniversary, it was defaced.

"People were really incensed," said Connaway, of the reaction.

It took four days for Connaway to restore the Stars and Stripes, and it was a no-brainer to get the $1,000 in damage covered up, and quickly.

It was restored in time for the Sunday ceremony.

The wall has actually been marked three times in the 10 years it's been there.

A few years ago, someone painted over the 'B' in 'Bless' so the sign read 'God-less America.' No one was arrested in the previous incidents, and police are looking into whether the newest tag has any sort of gang affiliation, the department said.

Vandalism is nothing new. Coeur d'Alene police received 496 reports of the crime in 2010, and 503 the year before. Through July of this year, police had received 287 reports, just about on pace with the previous years.

Even the patriotic pieces aren't off limits.

Besides the mural, an M60 tank and personnel carrier on display at the American Legion in Post Falls was spray painted with 'War Pig' in early June. Nobody has been arrested in that case, either.

But instead of just shrugging their shoulders, Hail and Connaway want to get word out, in case anyone who knows the tagger behind the tag. Neither could venture a guess as to why someone would want to deface the reminder of so many lost lives.

"We're willing to do whatever it takes to bring them to justice," said Hail, who doesn't regret for one second spending money to put the mural up, or each time they had to restore it. "I'm blessed to live in a country like America."